All posts tagged carlos slim

A taste of what the Mexican TV wars might be like comes this week as a soccer team part-owned by billionaire Carlos Slim faces off in the Mexican soccer league final against the team owned by television heavyweight Grupo Televisa.

For the first time, a Mexican soccer final won’t be shown on one of the free-to-air broadcast television channels of Televisa or rival TV Azteca, which together account for more than 90% of the country’s broadcast television market. Instead, it will be offered free via the UnoTV web site of Mr. Slim’s telecommunications company América Móvil, which is preparing to enter Mexico´s TV market. It will also be carried on pay TV.

The final, a two-leg affair, pitches Club León, in which América Móvil owns a 30% stake, against Club América, owned by Televisa. León opens at home Thursday night, and faces América at Mexico City´s Aztec Stadium in the return match Sunday. The second match will be broadcast by Televisa.

In backing the sale of KPN’s German unit to Telefónica Deutschland, Mr. Slim’s América Móvil has pushed forward what could be the biggest shakeup the European telecommunications sector has seen for years.

Telefónica Deutschland — itself the German unit of Spain’s Telefónica – on Monday sweetened its offer for KPN’s German unit to €8.55 billion ($11.46 billion), securing the backing of América Móvil in the process.

The deal means KPN bags five billion euros in cash and a bigger than expected residual stake in Telefónica Deutschland. The cash may help make swallowing KPN more palatable to América Móvil shareholders while underscoring Mr. Slim’s negotiating skills.